What's Cooking (Take Three!)

[quote="Paul Winalski"]Karen, perhaps another option would be to buy a piece of meat and have the butcher grind it for you. But you'd need a supermarket with a full-service meat counter and those can be hard to find. It sounds as though they are getting their hamburger pre-ground from the wholesaler. They might not have the facilities to grind their own.

-Paul W.[/quote
Thanks Paul, I shop at our locally owned grocery store, they are in the process of building a brand new store across the street from their current store, and it will be nice to have the larger store. They own many stores in the No CA area, however. I know the folks in the meat dept. and they are always able to accommodate my orders for special cuts. I will ask about this next time I am in there. After doing some research, I am almost certain that some bone is mixed into the meat. I will ask if they will grind some for me and see how it is. I really miss the hamburger we used to buy years ago.

Tonight we had a starter of pate on double-seeded bread, with associated mustards, olives, roasted peppers, then a slice of spinach and mushroom quiche with a sizzled duck leg confit.

And, while the oven was on, I also sliced and roasted two acorn squash with rosemary and cinnamon.

[Jenise]

Nice Surf and Turf Jenise!

Tonight at my casa is grilled Halibut with butter and fresh lemon juice. The star of the show is Christopher Kimball's Spanish Rice with Vegetables and Saffron. A fully loaded dish with onion, garlic, smoked paprika, cayenne, Arborio Rice, plum tomatoes, cauliflower, s & p, chicken stock, saffron, and baby spinach. All done in one pan. I ordered his new cookbook, The World in a Skillet and am enjoying it very much. A side dish of green beans sautéed with butter and almond oil and finished off with Tarragon from the garden.

Love the sound of that rice dish. My veal chop didn't turn out as described because I forgot to thaw the lobster tails. So instead I did a quickie marinade with white vermouth and rosemary, then topped the grilled chops with cherry tomato halves that had been treated with oil, vinegar and more rosemary. The tang of that is a lovely bright foil for meat.

[Jenise]

Today it's meatless Monday. Split pea soup for lunch and an asparagus/sweet pepper penne from the Union Square Cafe cookbook.

Tonight it is noodles with Broccolini, Oyster and Cremini mushrooms, green and red chili peppers, Scallions, spinach, and garlic.
A sauce consists of Gochujang, Korean soy sauce, rice wine vinegar. toasted sesame oil, a little honey, (in place of sugar) and a drizzle of sesame seeds on top.

[Jenise]

I might do crepes tonight. I've committed to making wild mushroom crepes for Friday lunch at Bill Spohn's house (theme: West Coast Pinots) and I'm combining elements of three recipes to make one unique Jenise version. Want to get all the adjustments that so far only exist in my head onto the plate for further tweaking so that I can be 100% confident pulling this off in someone else's kitchen.

Dale recently posted a link which Jenise touched on where mAyo was used instead of egg for breading so I thought I’d give it a go
I split a pork steak, bashed it around a bit then brushed it with kewpie Mayo using a silicone pastry brush then pressed into crumbs then chilled until ready to cook. Worked perfectly well so I’ll use it again. I didn’t use any of the suggested seasonings but will certainly try different combinations in future.
Easy and much less hassle if you just want to do one schnitzel for example. Or you run out of egg wash with one to go!

I'll be grilling chicken thighs prepared with a West Indies-style spice rub from Chris Schlesinger's book The Thrill of the Grill.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

I didn't end doing the crepes last night, so they're on for tonight.

[Jenise]

And I didn't end up doing the crepes on Wednesday, so they were last night's job. Really great though. Not cooking at home tonight.

Wrapping up a crazy week of Redding Rodeo, an escaped bucking bull, and I want some comfort food. I picked up another choice Sirloin Tip Roast, which will turn into a pot roast. Seasoned, floured, and browned on every side, and tossed into a pot. Later, onion wedges, fennel, garlic, young carrots, and celery will be added to cook in a home made chicken stock, and beef stock, rosemary, thyme, tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, and bay leaves. I always add a little red wine vinegar to braised beef. I will side it with a Lebanese style Yukon Gold potatoes with lemon and cilantro. Potatoes are cooked in water until tender, then drained and dried. Then they go back into the skillet to brown with garlic, Aleppo pepper, hot paprika, then topped with fresh Lisbon lemon juice and cilantro.

[Jenise]

Those potatoes sound wonderful, Karen. I love lemon+potato!

Today we're meeting up with the Dorks group so I'm making a platter of oven-roasted broccolini with pecorino cheese to share.

I got lazy with the potatoes, threw chunks into a big bowl with an Italian olive oil, garlic lemon juice, all the spices, various peppers, sweet onion, mixed up and let marinate for several hours. Put onto a sheet pan and roasted until browned. Delicious...and the pot roast was the best I have ever made. I liked the idea of flouring the meat. Did the same with veggies, floured, mixed with tomato paste, and lightly browned. Gravy was excellent, meat was very moist. I am still learning...

We're in the middle of a heat wave here in New Hampshire so I'll be keeping the kitchen cool by grilling chicken thighs coated with West Indies spice rub.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Karen, we're all still learning--every time we cook.

Today for dinner I'm making one of my favorite seasonal treatss, a room temperature 'salad' of white asparagus, cooked and marinated in a truffle vinaigrette topped with grilled shrimp.

Warm here, too, so kept it simple: sizzled some 'fingers' of corn souffle in a pan, sauteed a few vegetables, and broiled some skirt steak. But, fessing up, I also tried to roast a large clump of oyster mushroom and, well, it just wept and got limp. (I yearn to make the sort of crispy, roasty hen of the woods like I've gotten in restaurants.)

[Jenise]

Jeff, I've never had a clump of roasted mushrooms nor ever tried to prepare that way. Would think maitake best for what you're describing.

Jeff, I found several recipes for roasted hen of the woods online. They all break up the big clump into smaller pieces. Toss them with vegetable oil (about 3 tablespoons for a one-pound hen), spread them on a baking sheet, and roast at high heat (425 F) for about 1/2 hour.

-Paul W.

Thanks, Paul. I think my problem was that I tried to do that with oyster mushrooms, a much wetter variety. Oh, well.

just to be clear, maiitake= hen of the woods. If we roast, we break a clump into smaller clusters- too big and they don't roast/crisp uniformly. Pretty much what Paul says, though 30 minutes sounds like a lot, Guess it depends on size. Convection of course helps crisp

oops, I read and then responded to Paul's post. I still think smaller clumps work better for either!

I think my problem was that I tried to do that with oyster mushrooms, a much wetter variety. Oh, well.

Depends on the specimen. Yes, when oysters are too wet and fibrous, they don't crisp up well. But flatter/thinner versions can be just perfect. Maitake is of course delicious, but smaller pieces can roast very quickly, which is both a plus and a minus.

I cooked with fresh oyster mushrooms last week, was not impressed. The clump did not look very good to me. but I cleaned it the best I could, broke it apart and sautéed in evoo, and a little butter, along with Cremini and white shrooms. Did not care for the texture of the oyster. I don't think they were very fresh.

[Jenise]

Oysters are wet and spongy in general--will soak up a lot of whatever liquid or fat you put them in with and even then won't get crispy like a maitake will.

Dale--thanks for the clarification, I didn't realize they were the same. We don't see the name "hen of the woods" out here.